94 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



where the pupil can receive systematic, scientific 

 teaching. When the Massachusetts Board of Ag- 

 riculture gets through some of its preliminary busi- 

 ness incident to a new organization, we trust the 

 sui'-o'estion of our correspondent will be attended 



to. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FRUITS FOR NORTHERN CULTIVA- 

 TION. 



Mk. Editor : — Annexed I hand you a list of 

 fruit of sueli varieties as I have in a l)earing state, 

 all in field cultivation, without high brick walls or 

 board fences to protect them. I have fruited eve- 

 ry variety upon the list, and they all do well with 

 me, with the exception of two varieties, whicli T 

 have not so fully tested as I have the others ; — 

 those are the N >rthern Spy and S[)itzonburg. I 

 feel confident the Spy will do well witli us in good 

 cultivation ; and if so, it will prove one of the best 

 late-keeping apples, and should be extensively cul- 

 tivated. The vSpitzenburg is a very handsome, 

 rich flavored and late keeping apple, but it has the 

 appearance of being a poor bearer, but may do 

 better as the tree grows older. 



I have several other varieties of new fruit under 

 cultivation, which I shall speak of hereafter, if 

 you think the annexed list worth publishing. 



Yours truly, W". G. Lake. 



APPLES. 



Lnte Keeping Winter. 

 Baldwin, 

 Roximry Russet, 

 Rhode Island Greening, 

 Uanvers Winter Sweet, 

 Northern Spy, 

 Spitzenburg. 



Early Winter. 

 Ilubbardston Nonsuch, 

 Aunt llnun.ih, 

 Sweet Baldwin. 



Fall. 

 Fall Ilarvcy, 



Porter, 



Minister, 



Gravenstein, 



Alexander, 



River Apple, 



Luscombe, 



William Hill. 



Early Summer. 

 Williams' Favorite, 

 Early Sweet Bough, 

 Early Junealing, 

 Bailing Sweet, 

 Red Astracan. 



PEARS. 



Bartlett, 



Beurre Bosc, 



Fleiui-h Beauty, 



Beurre Die], 



Duchess de Angnuleme, 



Louise Bon de Jersey, 



Andrews, 



Vicir of Winkfield, 



Gloiit Morceau, 



Winter Nelis, 



Fulton, 



Seckel, 



Rosteezen, 



BufTuni, 



Van Mons, Leon le Clerc, 



St Ghistlain, 



Golden Beurre, 



Belle Lucrative, 



TIrhaniste, 



Bf urre de Aremberg, 



Columbia, 



IJix, 



Tyson, 



Beurre de Anjou, 



Lawrence. 



CHERRIES. 



Black Tartarean, 

 Black Ea^le, 

 Knight's K irly Black, 

 Davenport, 

 Yellow Spanish, 



Arden's White Heart, 

 Large White Bigarreau, 

 American Amber, 

 Early May Duke. 



PLUMS. 



Green Gage, 

 Red Gase, 



Prince's Vellow Gage, 

 -Jmoerial Gage, 

 Washington, 



Lawrence's Favorite, 

 JefTerson, 

 Black Lnperial, 

 Lombard. 



Re.\iarics. — The above was sent us by Mr. L.\ke 

 on the 6th inst., and before the ink was scarcely 

 dry, he was summoned from this, to that untried, 

 world, "from whose bourne no traveller returns." 



Mr. Lake was an excellent nurseryman, and full 

 of devotion to his business, as these, perhaps the 

 last linos lie ever penned, will declare. Thus in 

 the flush of manhor)d and life, one after another 

 are called from this busy and anxious state to that 

 to which each passing day is hurrying us on. May 

 we seek from above help to apply our hearts unto 

 wisdom, and be prepared for the summons, how- 

 ever unexpectedly it may come. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 KEEP FXACr RECORDS. 



Mr. Editor: — Some remarks in your paper of 

 the Ist inst. have led me to make the remarks 

 which follow, and wliich if you deem appropriate 

 at the present time, are at your service. 



Farmers should record with more care than they 

 are accustomed to do, the results of their own ex- 

 perience. When they raise a g(jod crop, they 

 should record the fact, and describe the soil and 

 the mode of tillage by which so good a result waa 

 obtained. If they make a poor crop, they should 

 make a record of this also, and the circumstances 

 which led to it. The experience of the practical 

 farmer is worth more than all the theories and ex- 

 periments of the chemist in his laboratory. Ex- 

 perience at the bedside is worth more to the physi- 

 cian, than all the theories of the Professor in the 

 lecture room. Theories may assert experience. 

 They may give a right direction to the experiments 

 of the practical man, and often enable liim to ar- 

 rive at his conclusions by a shorter path tlian he 

 would without them. But experience, after all, 

 must decide. In the living organization we do not 

 always obtain the exact results from the applica- 

 tion of chemical principles, that we do when ex- 

 perimenting upon dead matter in thg laboratory. 



This is true in the stomach. Medicines often 

 fail of their expected results, because their action 

 is modified by substances which they meet with in 

 the stomach, or by the vital powers of the system. 

 So in vegetables, the promises of the chemist are 

 not always fulfilled. There are so many varying 

 circumstances connected with temperature, mois- 

 ture, and the constitution of the atmosphere for 

 the time being, which are beyond our control, but 

 wliieh nevertheless, modify the results of chemical 

 activities, that the promises even of a Liehig must 

 be received with considerable latitude — a wide 

 margin must be allowed for the record of the devi- 

 ators from the rigid rule. 



Theories can only give a general direction to ex- 

 periment. Like theories in medicine and morals, 

 they need to be corrected in their working by ex- 

 perience. 



But the sciences of morals and medicine are not 

 therefore useless. Far from it, they impart to us 

 the knowledge of certain fundamental princijiles, 

 which are of universal application, but which, in 

 their application to individuals, require the modi- 

 fying hand of experience. The case is precisely 

 analogous in agriculture. The careful hand of in- 

 telligent experience is needed to modify the appli- 

 cation of its theories. For this reason the man of 

 mere science is not the safest teacher, or the surest 

 guide. He may be an accomplished scholar, he 

 may present plausible theories and fine specula- 

 tions, but they may not be applicable in the cir^ 

 cumstanccs under which it is proposed to apply 



